


Crushes and Crunches

by sunnybearhyuck



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Exercising, Fluff, M/M, based off of a really cute fanart i'll link it below, but i love them so i had to include them, but what's new, lee donghyuck loves mark lee, mark lee also loves lee donghyuck, mark loves working out but donghyuck Does Not, very very side luren, which should not come as a surprise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-07
Updated: 2019-06-07
Packaged: 2020-04-12 02:01:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19122325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnybearhyuck/pseuds/sunnybearhyuck
Summary: Donghyuck insisted that he would never set foot in a gym, but Mark’s puppy dog eyes paired with Donghyuck’s somewhat newfound realization that the constant desire to kiss your best friend is not, in fact, as platonic as he would like to pretend spelled out disaster for his conviction.Based off ofthisfanart:





	Crushes and Crunches

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a lil something I wrote cause my friend sent me some super cute fanart and I felt inspired. Hope you like it! [Here](https://twitter.com/rawraau/status/1135278837091094528) is the link again!

“Let’s gooooo!” Mark jumped excitedly as the clear doors of the YMCA slid open. Bounding ahead, Mark looked around the gym, thinking about where he wanted to go first. Donghyuck trudged behind, rolling his eyes at his puppy of a best friend.

“Let’s get this over with.”

“Aw, c’mon Hyuck,” Mark turned with a frown. “That’s no attitude to have at the Y! Remember,”

“ _O_ _nce you control your mind, you control your body_ ,” the two chorused together. Donghyuck cringed internally. Looks like some of Mark’s stupid phrases had seeped into his subconscious. It’s not much of a surprise, seeing as they’re plastered all over their dorm room.

After months of pestering Mark had finally gotten Donghyuck to go to the gym with him. Normally, Mark would go with Lucas, but today Lucas was showing his visiting friend around and Mark didn’t want to disturb them. Donghyuck insisted that he would never set foot in a gym, but Mark’s puppy dog eyes paired with Donghyuck’s somewhat newfound realization that the constant desire to kiss your best friend is not, in fact, as platonic as he would like to pretend spelled out disaster for his conviction. It’s only somewhat newfound because he only recently decided to acknowledge it. If he really tried to think hard, Donghyuck knew these feelings had been building up over the course of years.

“It’s abs day, so I brought the checklist!”

Donghyuck groaned again. _Of course_ Mark would have a checklist for something as simple as a workout. The two boys headed over to the mats, Mark grabbing a set of dumbbells for each of them. Donghyuck eyed them suspiciously as Mark plopped down onto the mat next to him.

“And what exactly are you planning to do with those?”

“Dumbbell crunches!”

Mark held the weights to his chest and demonstrated, handing the pair to Donghyuck afterwards. Donghyuck physically leaned back, away from the cursed objects. Donghyuck knew this workout would be difficult, but he didn’t expect it to be so difficult straight from the start.

“Do you want me to die? I’m pretty sure these will kill me.”

“Oh, nonsense Hyuck. _Push yourself_!”

Another damn quote. And that’s only the beginning. Through every crunch, evey leg raise, every plank and every twist, Mark pulled another quote out of his ass. Donghyuck was half convinced Mark had a brain transplant with a hypebeast.

“ _Don’t be a brat, burn that fat!_ ”

“ _Push harder today if you want a different tomorrow!_ ”

“ _The only bad workout is no workout!_ ”

“If you don’t shut up right now I’m going to use the newfound strength in my abs to bicycle crack your head open like a watermelon.”

Ok, that last one was Donghyuck. He flopped down, back onto the mat, chest heaving.

“Mark, we have to stop. I don’t think I’ll be able to move tomorrow.” Donghyuck’s legs were propped up and he absentmindedly tugged at the loose basketball shorts he wore. A sigh of relief is released as the loose ends slide up to expose his heated skin to the cool air. Realizing he never got a response, Donghyuck tilted his head, looking at his friend.

“Mark?”

Mark seemed to be a bit distracted, staring at Donghyuck in a way he had never seen before. Well, staring at Donghyuck’s newly exposed thighs.

“Hey, Mark!” Donghyuck slapped the mat. “Snap out of it!”

Mark jumped, and Donghyuck would have thought Mark simply zoned out, if not for the blush that overtook his cheeks. They met eyes and Donghyuck raised an eyebrow, but Mark only let out an embarrassed cough.

“Ok, so, um-” Mark stuttered, turning and grabbing their water bottles. “Ok I’ll go get some more water and them we can do the last exercise.”

Before Donghyuck could speak, Mark was gone, leaving Donghyuck alone with his thoughts.

“That was weird.”

Donghyuck jumped at the voice next to his ear and whipped around, almost smacking Renjun in the face.

“Oh my god it’s me you spaz!” Renjun jumped back, holding up a spray bottle to protect himself.

“Jesus dude, give me some warning next time.” Donghyuck relaxed back onto the mat as his heart stopped pounding. Throwing a quick glance to the side, he frowned at his friend.

“What are you doing here? Wait,” Donghyuck sat back up, fully confused. “What was weird? What were you talking about? Are you stalking me? Why haven’t you been in bio for the past three classes?”

“Well first of all, you know that I work here,” Renjun rolled his eyes, motioning to his uniform. “Secondly, I’ve been no more than ten feet away from you this entire time enjoying you suffer. You just happened to be way too wrapped up in your little lovefest to notice. Thirdly, what was weird is that whole staring thing Mark did. After years of third-wheeling you two, I have noticed that Mark is usually a lot more subtle with his ‘Donghyuck is beautiful god dripped in honey and blessed by the sun’ gaze. You, on the other hand, are blatantly obvious and the only reason Mark hasn’t noticed is because he can’t see past the haze of his own love. And fourth, I wasn’t in bio because I dropped it and changed to anatomy.”

Donghyuck blinked, mouth open.

“Wait,” He started, then paused, “why’d you drop bio for anatomy? Isn’t that like the same thing?”

“Not at all. Anatomy helps more with my art de-”

“WAIT. Mark has a crush on me?”

“Oh my god you dense motherfucker.” Renjun grabbed Donghyuck by the shoulders and forced Donghyuck to face him. “Mark. Lee. Likes. You. I’ve told you this once almost every week for the past year. Sometimes twice a week!”

“Oh yeah.” Donghyuck said, sitting back in contemplation. “I thought that was just my wishful thinking projecting onto you though.”

“It wasn’t. I’m way too smart to be affected by you.”

Renjun settled next to Donghyuck, ignoring his offended “hey!” and spritzing the mats. After wiping it with a rag as a poor excuse for doing his job, Renjun finally spoke again.

“So are you going to do something about it?”

“Are you going to do anything about your giant lady-boner every time you see Lucas’s muscles?”

“I’m a guy! I get regular boners! And I do not have a crush on Lucas!”  Renjun protested, actually spraying a giggling Donghyuck with the cleaning solution.

“Lady-boner is funnier to say than just ‘boner’. Renjun, you literally got this job just so you could stare at Lucas more.”

“Did not!”

“Did too!”

“Did-”

“Hey, sorry I took so long I ran into Lu- uhm, guys?”

The two boys abruptly stopped their arguing and turned to face a very confused Mark.

“Markie!” Donghyuck gasped, wrapping himself around one of Mark’s legs. “Renjun is bullying me!”

“You started it!”

“I-”

“Donghyuck,” Mark sighed, tugging his leg out of the iron grip and sitting on the mats. “Knowing you, I’m one-hundred percent sure you started it.”

“Thank you Mark! And on that note,” Renjun stood and sent a sneer towards Donghyuck, “I will be on my way. Goodbye!”

Renjun made his exit, going to some other part of the gym, but not without giving Donghyuck a look that clearly said _get your shit together and ask this guy out_.

Donghyuck sighed and took a long sip out of his water bottle before asking, “So what’s the next round of torture you’re going to subject me to?”

Mark pulled out the list, frowning at it.

“Actually, I think we can go home now. There’s one more thing but I think we’ve had enough for today.”

Donghyuck unexpectedly feels disappointed.

“Aw come on Lee, I’m sure we can knock this last one out. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?”

Mark looked up in surprise, and Donghyuck was a bit surprised at himself. Initially, he had prepared himself for the worst. Everyone knew working out in a gym wasn’t exactly Donghyuck’s cup of tea, but he was willing to do it for the sake of being with his best friend. But as time when on, and both Donghyuck and Mark descended into sweaty messes (the sheen of sweat on Mark’s skin did NOT help Donghyuck’s breathing at all), Donghyuck slowly found he was enjoying himself. The smile on Mark’s face after they reached a goal somehow made the pain and aches all worth it.

“No, no, it’s okay Hyuck. I know you’d rather be home right now.”

“Oh Markie,” Donghyuck scooted closer and fluttered his eyelashes. “Anywhere with you is my home.”

A look of shock flashed in Mark’s eyes before his face flushed into a deep scarlet.

“Okayyyyy we’re leaving.”

“No, Mark, come on!”

“Why are you so insistent on finishing this workout? You didn’t even want to be here.”

Donghyuck would have been offended, if the statement wasn’t completely true. Deciding to use another tactic, Donghyuck grabbed the sheet from Mark. What he sees shocks him.

“Really?”

He held it behind his back as Mark grappled with him, desperately trying to take the list back.

“Mark it’s just normal crunches! I’m pretty sure you can do those in your sleep!”

Mark accepted his defeat, sitting back and sighing.

“I’m gonna be honest with you. I don’t like regular crunches. And I have no motivation.”

“After all this time and effort you can’t think of another phrase to keep going? What happened to _The difference between wanting and achieving is discipline_ or  _The hard part isn’t getting your body in shape. The hard part is getting your mind in shape._ ”

“I just hate normal crunches so much! They’re so boring!”

“Oh, c’mon Markie. Just do ten. I’ll hold your feet.”

Donghyuck knelt down on the mat and tucked his calves under his thighs while Mark begrudgingly scooted over.

“Do I really have to do this?” he whined, nose scrunched up adorably.

“I’ve suffered this entire time. I think you can do a few more crunches.”

Mark whined again, crossing his arms over his chest and laying back.

“One. Two.” He counted before pausing and sighing deeply.

“Oh my god you little brat,” Donghyuck huffed. “You know what? If you finish this rep I’ll give you a present.”

“Present?” Mark immediately popped up, suddenly nose-to-nose with Donghyuck.

“Uh- yes,” Donghyuck leaned back a bit, “a present.”

“What present?”

“It’s a surprise.”

“How do you know I’ll like it?”

“I’ve known you for ten years you really think I don’t know what you like?”

“You gave me ketchup for my birthday.”

“And you gave me a bible so I’m pretty sure we’re even.”

“Ugh, fine.” Mark laid back down and did another crunch.

“Three. This better be worth it.”

“Markie, you of all people know that _success starts with self-discipline_!”

 

“And, ten!”

Mark stopped, sat up completely, and blinked at Donghyuck.

“So? What’s my reward?”

Donghyuck subconsciously gripped Mark’s feet a little tighter as battle waged inside him. Is the potential of a romantic relationship a greater benefit than the risk of losing the already incredible friendship that they have? Ten incredible years, down the drain.

Who is he kidding? Neither Dongyuck nor Mark would ever let their friendship go down the drain just because some _feelings_ got in the way. _Yes,_ Donghyuck thought, _this is worth it._ He’s read the signs and now it’s finally time to act on them. _It’s actually pretty simple,_ Donghyuck reminded himself, thinking back to the posters on the walls. _Either you do it, or you don’t._

“Donghyuck? Hello? My pre-mmmf!”

Donghyuck leaned forward, catching Mark’s lips with his own. He seemed frozen, unmoving and Donghyuck started to pull back, an embarrassed blush heating up his cheeks and apology already forming. He didn’t get very far though, before Mark pressed back just as fervently.

For a moment, Donghyuck lost himself. The clatter of the treadmills and the obnoxious grunts of overzealous weightlifters faded away until his senses were filled with Mark, and only Mark. An eternity was wrapped up into a second but Mark was already pulling away. Donghyuck’s eyelids slid back open and he frowned, but the only explanation he got was Mark flopping back before pushing himself up into a sitting position.

“One. Two.” Up, down. Up, down.

“Mark? What are you doing?” But Mark only ignored him, continuing the workout.  

“Three. Four.”

“Are we gonna talk about this?”

“Five. Six.”

“Ok, I get it if you don’t feel the same way but-”

“Seven. Eight.”

“Oh my God is a dumb workout more important than our relationship?”

“Nine. Ten!”

“I thought you would at least-”  
Mark slid a hand around the back of Donghyuck’s neck, pulled him forward, and connected their lips again. Donghyuck responded immediately, melting into the gentle touch. Mark’s lips seem even softer than he imagined, and as Mark gently coaxed his mouth open, Donghyuck can faintly taste the ridiculous protein shake Mark insists on drinking. The hands on the back of his neck were clammy but Donghyuck couldn’t find it within himself to care as he pressed his stomach to Mark’s shins in a vain attempt to get closer. Frustrated, Donghyuck whined into the kiss before he pulled back. Mark’s eyes fluttered open, dazed and unfocused as he smiled dopily.

“Move your legs,” Donghyuck insisted, tapping Mark’s knees.

Mark, ever the considerate gentleman, hastily moved his legs to either side of Donghyuck, allowing him to crawl forward and grab onto Mark’s t-shirt. Just as their lips were about to collide for the third time, Donghyuck jumped at the feeling of water suddenly all over his cheek.

“Keep it in the bedroom you horndogs!” Renjun sprayed them again before turning to wipe down a nearby machine.

“Ok that’s it,” Donghyuck stood, leaving a very confused Mark still on the floor. “One second babe, I’ll be right back. Hey Lucas!” Donghyuck marched to the weight room, Renjun hot on his tail.

“Oh my God Donghyuck wait no please I’ll do anything just-”

Donghyuck caught sight of his tall friend, bench pressing while his spotter yelled out his rep number and cheered him on. “Lucas! What’s up!”

“Hey Donghyuck!” Lucas grinned and carefully set the bar back on the rack before his friend gave him a high five, leaving as he saw someone else to hype up.

“Oh, not much,” Donghyuck ran his finger along the weight plate, smiling to himself. “Just hanging out with Mark, thought I’d come and say hello. Renjun here certainly wanted to say hi.” Renjun twisted his towel as Lucas noticed him, Lucas’s smile growing even brighter.

“Injun! Good to see you!”

“Uh, yeah. Good to see you too.” Renjun avoided eye contact and Donghyuck was afraid the towel was going to rip from how tightly it was wound. Lucas’s eyes flicked down to Renjun’s tight-knuckled grip and he frowned, reaching forward to pry the towel from his hands.

“Bro, you alright? You’re acting kind of weird.”  

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just work and-”

“Are you sure dude?”

“-oh my god would you stop calling me that!”

“Wha- uh, what?”

“Bro, dude, buddy, pal, amigo, whatever. Just, ugh! I am sick and tired of being reminded all the time of how _friendzoned_ I am.”

Lucas seemed even more confused the longer Renjun ranted. “Friendzoned? I never friendzoned you.”

Stopping abruptly, Renjun blinked down at the boy sitting before him. “Really?”

“Yeah. You’re like, so far out of the friendzone. Like wayyyyyy out of there. Never even considered. So far from that zone in a way that’s like, sure we can be friends but I would rather hold hands and pay for food and hug all the time. Like _ALL_ the time. Do you know how hard it’s been to not hug you? Ever? It’s a real struggle, I’m telling you. Like, every time I see your cute face and tiny body I just want to gather you up and just, squeeze the life out of you. But, in a good way. You know?”

The two stared at each other for a moment while the completely forgotten Donghyuck watched from the side.  

“Yeah, I actually do know.”

And Renjun finally took the initiative, grabs Lucas’s face, and does what Donghyuck has been telling him to do this entire time.

Satisfied with his work, Donghyuck turned and caught sight of Mark, waiting on the edge of the weight room, their water bottles in hand. Donghyuck skipped over and pressed a quick kiss on his lips. Before his can go any further, Mark pulled back, preventing Donghyuck from diving in for more with a hand on his shoulder.

“So are we dating now or something?”

Donghyuck raised an eyebrow and shot back “Wow Mark Lee, you really sweep me off my feet.”

Mark blushed and shoved Donghyuck lightly, taking his hand to tug him towards the exit.

“Be still my beating heart,” Donghyuck continued, swinging their joined hands, “for the master of romance, Mark Lee himself has asked me if we’re together “or something.”

“Stop bullying me,” Mark whined.

“ _Or something?_ Really? You really think I wouldn’t snatch up your tight little ass in a heartbeat?”

“Please, we both know you’re the one with the great ass.”

Donghyuck stopped as they reach the car, mostly because he doesn’t want to let go of Mark’s hand. “Oh so you’ve been staring at my ass.”

Mark met his eyes for a long moment before trailing them down Donghyuck’s body, drinking in every plane and curve.

“Yes, yes I have,” He murmured, almost to himself. Donghyuck could feel the oncoming blush and yanked his hand out of Mark’s grip, running to the passenger side and ducking his head.

“Unlock the door!” He called, repeatedly tugging on the handle.

“I’m trying, I think the key fob is messed up? Here, let me see,” Mark walked to Donghyuck’s side, key out to unlock it manually.

“Here we go,” he muttered to himself while sliding the key into the lock. “Wait, no,” Mark jiggled the key around, seemingly struggling with the lock. Donghyuck grew impatient and slid closer, reaching out to take the key.

“Let me try-”

Mark’s grin was the first sign that something was up, and before he knew it Donghyuck was trapped between his new boyfriend and the car.

“Who’s the romance master now?” Mark murmured, leaning closer.

“Oh, come here you big doof.”

**Author's Note:**

> [twitter](https://twitter.com/sunnylionlee)   
>  [cc](https://curiouscat.me/things_nct)   
> 


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